It’s really scary, I think, that the National Library of Australia has selected me for preservation “in perpetuity” in the Pandora archive. Lame Heath Ledger jokes and my photographs of men’s toilets will be available for future generations.
Word of the Year 2007: last chance to vote
Final reminder: You have until midnight tonight (Sydney time) to vote in Macquarie Dictionary‘s Word of the Year poll.
Heath Ledger spikes my website, Day 7
Another day, another traffic graph for The Heath Ledger Experiment. And once more, contrary to my expectations, there’s another gentle increase in traffic.
Could this be because the Heath Ledger jokes page is now the top result when you do a Google search for “heath ledger jokes”?
Today is about other things for me, not Mr Ledger, so I’ll return to these thoughts tomorrow. But do feel free to add your own comments.
Social Media: It’s about the people, not the tools
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when thinking about social media is that it’s all about the tools — that if only they choose the right software they’ll be a success. That’s about as sensible as thinking your retail business will be successful if only you buy the right bookkeeping software.
Yesterday a client asked:
My friends at [some business] wish to create a social networking section as part of their site, with home pages or profiles for each user. Do you recommend any third party apps for this or a currently operating system?
No, I don’t recommend the tools until I know what the job is.
That question is like being asked, “I want a motor vehicle, can you recommend one?” Before you could answer you’d need to know the requirements. How many passengers? An answer of “6” means a people-mover, not a sports car. An answer of “40” means you need a bus.
Does it have to go off-road? Land Rover time! Does it have to carry 3 tons of bricks? Well, you need a truck, not a car. Do you need to make a social statement with your vehicle? Then maybe you need a Rolls-Royce. Or a Porsche. Or a Ferrari.
Or a packet of Viagra.
Continue reading “Social Media: It’s about the people, not the tools”
Quote of the Day, 29 January 2008
Overheard in a pub on King Street, Newtown earlier today: “I’m not afraid of mental institutions any more. It’s a free holiday. Free food, free cigarettes — free DRUGS!”
Heath Ledger spikes my website, Day 6
Yesterday I reported that traffic for The Heath Ledger Experiment had declined across the weekend. Today I can tell you that the decline has been reversed and we’re slightly up again. Across 6 days, we’ve seen a total of 6,407 unique human visitors to the jokes page.
I have no real explanation for this yet, and it may just be statistical noise. Still, my gut feeling is that we’re moving past the initial feeding-frenzy. Perhaps the early visitors are people who actively seek out a forum for this sort of thing, because that’s how they gain the attention they seek. Later, others stumble across the site once those early visitors have seeded it with content.